Over the past year, television remained a dominant force in the Czech Republic as well as all the other V4 countries. Notably, our Hungarian neighbours led the pack, spending an average of 5 hours per day in front of their TV screens, while Czech viewers’ screen time ended at 3,5 hours. Year 2023 also highlighted substantial disparities in media consumption patterns across different age groups of viewers.
Last year, Czechs did allocate an upwards of 3,5 hours per day to their TV viewing, while Slovaks dedicated just under 4 hours per day to this pastime. Poles, on the other hand, spent almost 4,5 hours each day in front of their screens, with Hungarians surpassing 5 hours of television consumption per day. This encapsulates the television viewing habits of residents across the Visegrad Group countries. ‘While television viewership experienced a slight decline in the Central European region last year, it continues to maintain a high level compared to certain Western or Northern European countries. For instance, viewers in Norway or Sweden spend less than two hours a day on television consumption,’ explains Pavel Müller, Head of Research & Marketing at Atmedia, a company representing 24 measured thematic TV channels on the Czech market, highlighting the regional disparities in television viewership across Europe. ‘The residents of Southeastern Europe emerge as the most avid television consumers, as illustrated by countries such as Serbia or Romania, where television viewing surpasses five hours per day,’ adds Pavel Müller.[1]
Hungarians Log in Over 5 Hours of Daily TV Time, While Slovaks Approach the 4-Hour Milestone for the Very First Time
In contrast to neighbouring countries within the Visegrad Group, television viewership in the Czech Republic has consistently ranked the lowest, a trend reaffirmed even in the previous year. Viewers aged 15 and older in the Czech Republic did daily spend an average of 3 hours and 39 minutes in front of television screens.[2] ‘Despite experiencing a marginal three percent decline in television viewership last year, TV continues to assert its dominance as a potent medium, with viewers spending over 3,5 hours daily in front of their screens, which truly means that Czech viewers still allocate a substantial portion of their day to watching television,’ Pavel Müller comments on the television viewership results for 2023. He further notes that, on average, 70% of viewers aged 15 and older did tune in daily, with 87% tuning in at least once a week.[3] Notably, television programmes are watched at least occasionally by 93% of Czech households.[4]
On the flip side, Hungary has consistently upheld the highest television viewership among the V4 countries. Despite a two-minute decrease in daily television consumption compared to 2022, Hungarian viewers still exceeded the five-hour mark in television viewership last year. In 2023, Hungarians aged 15 and older invested a cumulative 5 hours and 6 minutes daily in front of television screens.[5] Slovakia closely mirrors the TV viewership patterns of the Czech Republic, with last year’s average of 3 hours and 59 minutes per day (viewers aged 12+), marking a 15-minute decline from 2022.[6] In comparison to the previous year, television viewership in Poland did see a decline, with Polish viewers spending 11 minutes less in front of their television screens per day – amounting to an average of 4 hours and 18 minutes.[7]
Thirty-Year-Olds Do Spend Twice as Much Time Watching TV as Generation Z
The 2023 media landscape showcased noticeable differences in the viewing habits of various age demographics. Particularly striking was the minimal television consumption among viewers aged 15–24, averaging just 45 minutes per day. ‘TV viewership among Generation Z, encompassing viewers aged 15–24, has remained below one hour per day since 2022. Conversely, the subsequent generation, Generation Y, aged 25–34, devoted more than double that time to television consumption, averaging nearly two hours per day,’ highlights Pavel Müller, while pointing out the significant intergenerational gap in television viewership. ‘On the other hand, viewers aged 35–54 do watch TV for over 3 hours on average per day,’ he adds.[8] The marked intergenerational gap in television viewing habits between Generation Z and Y is evident across all V4 countries. However, while for the first time last year, Polish viewers aged 15–24 allocated less than one hour per day to TV viewing, Hungarian counterparts, despite a decline compared to the previous year, still approached two hours per day in television viewership within the same age bracket.
About Atmedia
Atmedia Czech s.r.o. is a media sales house of almost 30 thematic TV channels, which has been active on the Czech market since 2008. Atmedia does handle the selling of TV advertising, and it currently represents many local as well as most of the international TV channels and TV groups on the Czech TV market, in particular AMC Networks, Warner Bros. Discovery, The Walt Disney Company, Antenna Group, or the Slovak JOJ group. At the beginning of 2010, Atmedia introduced the market to a very unique way of selling the advertising space via sales packages. Since 2021, has been regularly publishing the Atmedia Index, a valuable resource providing extensive data, information, and insights in three key domains: (1) the evaluation of television channels’ quality through the eyes of their viewers, (2) adoption and usage of Pay-TV and Free-to-Air services, (3) adoption and usage of subscription Video-on-Demand (SVoD) services.
[1] Mediametrie – Glance, One TV Year in the World, 2023, 2022 Data
[2] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–7, 2023, ATS / Day, TG 15+
[3] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–7, 2023, Reach / Day, Reach / Week, TG 15+
[4] ATO – Nielsen, Continuous Research, 2023
[5] Nielsen, Live + TS0–7, 2022–2023, ATS / Day, TG 15+
[6] PMT/Kantar Slovakia, Live + TS0–3, 2022–2023, ATS / Day, TG 12+
[7] Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 2022–2023, ATS / Day, TG 15+
[8] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–7, 2023, ATS / Day
